Aderian, Ghevont, Nate and Ollie left Slateholm and stop to visit Lah before investigating the wall of mist surrounding St. Orlan.
Downtime in Slateholm
For ten days (8/11 – 8/21), the party relaxed in Slateholm, spending some time gathering information about St. Orlan. For Ghevont, this meant daily prayers for guidance, and over the days, he was blessed with dreams. They may not have been precisely literal, but they definitely conveyed some pertinent facts about the state of their home town. The rest of them gathering some news by talking over ale. They learned that a perpetual fog surrounded St. Orlan, and that most people avoided the area. No one who entered the fog had returned.
Jerker and Elaria spent their time with Jerker’s parents, and when the party felt ready to leave town (8/22), Jerker explained he was tired and opted to stay in Slateholm. Ghevent acquired horses and a wagon for the four adventurers (Ghevont, Aderian, Nate and Ollie). By the end of the day, they arrived at the gates of Lah’s Retreat. The monks there recognized them at once and ushered them to Lah.
Visit with Lah
Before the venerable cleric, Ghevont made a confession of his conversion to the Hypnost tradition, but not before asking several probing questions. Lah explained his conviction that the gateway into the ways of the Anointed One was wide but that the path to him was narrow. He meant that despite the many variants of faith, all were welcome to follow the Anointed One, and if they so chose, his ways would bring them together upon core principles.
To punctuate his conviction, Lah delivered a prayer for them. And the light of the Anointed One shown down upon them all. And Ghevont saw that light which lightened his heart. A deep sense of calm overcame him as his fear of rejection dissipated. He announced that he’d reached a new level of understanding, that his life’s arc had changed, and that he felt a fresh power course through his body.
That night they all enjoyed a fine meal and discussed what was known about the fall of St. Orlan. Lah explained that he’d sent some monks to investigate who had never returned. Ghevont shared some details of his dreams, and Lah revealed he’d had similar visions. An ebon spire rose now from the center of St. Orlan, and vile presence ruled over it. Aderian recalled his vision through the telescope months before, one that showed Ithusar, the crucified vampire gloating over Sheriff Bremlai held in a dog’s leash.
Gathering Beeswax
Expecting to face powerful undead monsters, Lah reminded them of how his monk’s knew the secret of creating St. Irevia’s candles. These required a quantity of wax taken from the hive of giant bees. The precise location of a such a hive was not known, though the monks had seen giant bees five miles from the retreat. The party made plans to find the hive the next day (8/23).
They spent that first day traveling and watching for bees. They had no luck that first day, but spotted bees early in the second day (8/24). The usual way one finds a bee hive is through the practice of bee lining, that is, watching the bees as they travel from flowers back to their hive. Ghevont made easier work of this task by using a spell to charm the bee. It led them directly to the hive. Once there, Ghevont calmed the bees with a prayer, and they were able to easily take a small quantity of wax.
They returned to the retreat where the monks got to work on making candles. They produced 11 of them. The mechanical portion of making the candles was followed by a prayer Lah read from an ancient tome. These 11 candles would offer some protection from undead when needed. The process required a full day to complete.
Investigating the Wall of Fog
Next, they took to the road to St. Orlan. Before long, they could see a wall of fog crossing the road. It’s edges swirled, surging and retreating randomly. As the party approached the perpetual, suffocating mist that clung to the outskirts of St. Orlan, the sickly-sweet stench of corruption grew heavier, clinging to their very lungs. The fog, a malign exhalation from the cursed town, reluctantly parted to reveal a scene of chilling despair on the forgotten road. Strewn haphazardly were the grotesque, withered forms of several travelers, their faces frozen in silent screams. Their flesh, once vibrant, was now a loathsome canvas of internal rot, distended and discolored.
Aderian produced a grappling hook and used it to snag a body and drag it away from the reach of the fog. Ollie fiddled with his ring, Ag’s Essensulator, and put three questions to the corpse.
- When did this fog come to the town? After green dragons flew into two, there was a battle. Many fled, most stayed. A few weeks later, the fog rolled over the town.
- When you were fleeing, had most people died in St. Orlan? Are there living people left in the town? Yes, there are many people left in town. We just couldn’t take it anymore and tried to flee.
- What do you think killed you? I think we were poisoned.
Despite the risk, Ollie made several dashes into the space where the mist reached, each time carrying out another body until all five were well away from the mist. He placed them in the wagon with the intent of bringing them to Lah for proper burial.
A few investigated steps were made. Nate confirmed that the mist itself radiated evil, but his aura of protection versus evil did not prevent the fog from approaching his body. He quickly stepped back from the edge of the mist as it approached. Ghevont tried using the cube of force to black gas, and while the mist did not penetrate the cub, it did produce the crackle of lightning over the surface of the cube. It also cloaked Ghevont in a globe of silence that lasted a few minutes.
Ollie made a vain attempt to capture some of the mist in an urn. He managed to stop himself from being enveloped or inhaling the fog. Whether he actually captured any of the mist was unknown. He used one of the unsual metal urns found in Doukreg that used a screw top.
They turned and rode back to Lah, pondering the situation. Nate figured that once inside the fog, they’d be unable to leave based on what the corpse told them. Ghevont speculated that factions within the city might now fight with each other he’d had visions of both the vampire and of linen-wrapped mummies.
End Notes
- Days
- 8/11 – 8/21 Gathering info in Slateholm
- 8/22 – 8/25 At Lah’s Retreat
- 8/26 Investigating the wall of mist
- Treasure: none
- Combat: none
- Characters
- Aderian
- Ghevont
- Nate
- Ollie